The CyberSangha Podcast

As We Live & Breathe: The Breath as Active Ingredient in Yoga Therapy

Episode 30, Series 2: "Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life”
Featuring: Laura Schmalzl, Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal, and Alejandro Chaoul-Reich
About one in five U.S. adults practices some form of yoga. An ancient Indian practice with asanas (body postures) and pranayama (breathing practices), yoga is well known for its many health benefits. Just how do yoga-based practices help us to think more clearly, balance our emotions, and improve our bodily awareness? Can we view the breath as one of yoga’s active ingredients? Invited presenters draw on their clinical and academic expertise and their experience as practitioners and teachers as they discuss the future of yoga in health care, its importance as a body-breath-mind practice, and the key role of the breath.

Realizing Your Full Potential: Clearing Obstacles to Positive Speech

Episode 29, Series 2: "Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life”
Featuring: Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Speech refers not only to the words we speak, but also to the energy carried by our voice and our breath. The teachings, discussions, and practices of this month explore using speech, mantra, other forms of sound, and/or breathing practices to support us to connect with the pure, unceasing awareness of our true nature. Through allowing our voice to rest in silence, we draw attention to inner silence and continue to release effort that separates us from being fully present. A doorway to deep inner peace, resting in silence allows the light of pure awareness to dawn, awareness that illuminates the source of positive qualities within us and all beings. It helps us to realize our true voice.
In advance of his teaching, Rinpoche encourages creating a bit of space for meditation in your house — in a quiet, peaceful location where you can feel some sense of warmth and connection to yourself. You might provide a comfortable cushion to sit on, and a candle or stick of incense. A supportive outer space can support your inner space during meditation.

Realizing Your Full Potential: Clearing Obstacles to Positive Action

Episode 28, Series 2: "Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life”
Featuring: Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
“Body” refers here not only to our physical body and the tangible world around us, but also to our individual sense of identity as a human being. The teachings, discussions, and practices explored during the Month of the Body help us to connect to the door of the body, clearing obstacles to health and well-being through movement and stillness. Resting our awareness in the stillness of the body opens the door to the clear, open, unchanging experience of our true nature and awakens clear, positive action.
In advance of his teaching, Rinpoche encourages creating a bit of space for meditation in your house — in a quiet, peaceful location where you can feel some sense of warmth and connection to yourself. You might provide a comfortable cushion to sit on, and a candle or stick of incense. A supportive outer space can support your inner space during meditation.

Can Virtual Reality Support Your Meditation Practice?

Episode 27, Series 2: "Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life.”
Featuring: Sid Desai, Dr. Linda Carlson, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Dr. Alejandro Chaoul-Reich
As the digital technology of virtual reality (VR) becomes more available, carefully designed VR programs have the potential to change states of mind and attitude. The immersive nature of VR may be one of the solutions to support people in their meditation and mindfulness practices. It may help users to focus, or shift their attention, but there has been little research in the use of virtual reality as a therapeutic tool. Dr. Carlson and Sid Desai are pioneers in this area, and in a first-of-its-kind study they are assessing the results of a virtual reality guided mindfulness (VRGM) intervention program in adult cancer patients with chronic cancer-related pain. In this Science & Spirituality dialog, our esteemed panel discuss exciting possibilities of VR in integrative health care, its abilities to introduce users to expanded awareness, as well as its challenges and limitations.

Realizing the Power of Boundless Creativity

Episode 26, Series 2: "Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life.”
Featuring: Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Our true nature is pure, spacious awareness. The more familiar we are with this spaciousness of mind, the closer we are to the source of spontaneous creativity. In a live internet broadcast, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche teaches and guides a meditation that helps us to rest in the vast openness within, let go of any negative sense of identity that limits our true potential, and realize our innate power to benefit ourselves and our world through boundless creativity.

Biocognition and Breath: Cultivating Health and Longevity

Episode 25, Series 2: "Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life.”
Featuring: Mario Martinez, Willa Blythe Baker, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and Alejandro Chaoul-Reich
Do cultural beliefs affect how your body manifests? Do some subconscious cultural mindsets actually contribute to addiction, obesity, and poor health, even more so than genetics? In mindful breath practice we experience, and science documents, healthy changes in mind and body. Supported by breath, we can cultivate a sense of joy and recognize our inner connectedness. We know this sense of belonging leads to longer life. What other factors can unlock the biocognitive(mind/body/culture) blocks to happiness and longevity?
For this inspiring and free online Science & Spirituality dialog, the speaker panel includes pioneering clinical neuropsychologist Mario Martinez who brings an illuminating vocabulary and understanding of biocognition to neuropsychology; meditation teacher/lama and scholar Willa Blythe Baker whose practices on breath, embodiment, and wilderness, address stress and resilience in a time of eco-anxiety; Dzogchen master and teacher Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche; and host Alejandro Chaoul-Reich. From their varied perspectives, they will share practices that allow your inner wisdom, unbound by cultural bias, to guide you to greater spiritual and physical wellbeing.

Meet the Director of “Broken Wings”

Episode 24, Series 2: "Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life.”
Featuring: film director Shenpenn Khymsar, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and host Jhama Lhamo.
Meet Shenpenn Khymsar, director of Broken Wings, the first Bollywood feature film directed by a Tibetan and the first feature to come out of Darjeeling in the Indian/International cinema world. Inspired by true events, it’s a tragic love story set in the post-1986 Gorkhaland agitation in Darjeeling, India. The film can be viewed in theaters throughout India (and later Nepal) beginning Friday, April 29, 2022; and will be released on streaming platforms by fall 2022. Produced by Monk and the Warrior Productions.
The conversation can be considered a family affair, as Shenpenn Khymsar is the nephew of Tenzin Rinpoche’s wife, Khandro Tsering Wangmo Khymsar; and host Jhama Lhamo is Rinpoche’s half-sister.

Realizing the Power of Your True Voice

Episode 23, Series 2: "Bring Body, Speech & Mind to Life.”
Featuring: Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Resting our voice in silence is a doorway to deep inner peace. It allows the light of pure awareness to dawn in us, and helps us to realize our true voice. In a live internet broadcast, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche teaches and guides a meditation that helps us to connect with that true voice and to realize its power to help us communicate more clearly and effectively.